New Game Formats?

Obviously, we all love rainbow drafts and unlimited constructed. But what are some other ways to play? We've talked about Daredevil drafts and single player Galactus mode before. I've also heard people are interested in the idea of playing with all commons (or Pauper in MtG lingo). What if you had to purchase a set number of unique characters before you could damage your opponent? What if you got to name one opposing character that had to be purchased before you're damaged? Maybe you have objectives to complete, like buy 2 unique characters and a basic action, spin around 3 times, then you can damage your opponent.

I really like the idea of new formats. With the proliferation of web based media out there...all one has to do to get a decent sense of the current meta is pay partial attention to some of the content, and you already know what you are likely to see at any competitive constructed tourney, with some minor variations team to team of course. Don't get me wrong...I love all the stuff that TRP and other sites provide as it really helps build a strong following and community feel, but it also has somewhat of a downside of really leveling the playing field across a wider range of players.

As a result of this, I believe the true measure of a skilled player is to have to navigate through unexpected challenges in the game, or be forced to have to use certain characters or certain types of characters, or have some other interesting rules come into play. I'd love to see official events be hosted along these lines, perhaps even official OPs for which WizKids provides the structure. Maybe this could eventually become a 3rd type of tourney that you would see occur regularly at any big event..."Constructed" and "Draft" and "Unique Format". "Unique Format" tourneys would be fully constructed games, but have unique sets of rules and/or restrictions announced just 30 min before the first game starts. Players would have 30 min to then build their teams, then off they go...

I think the "What If" tourney idea would provide some unique ideas and create some fun themes:
- "What If" Loki was successful at Defeating the Avengers and now has Earthly World Domination?
- Game Play Restriction: Loki must be used on all teams and fielded at least once in order to win. No characters with the Avengers Affiliation are permitted
- "What If" The event that started the "Age of Apocalypse" storyline occurred differently. Legion was successful at Killing Magneto, and altered the timeline in a different way?
- Game Play Restriction: Magneto and Professor X may not be used, the Villain affiliation does not exist on any cards, each team must have at least 4 X-Men
- "What If" Superman stayed Dead
- Lex Luthor must be used on all teams and fielded at least once to win. Superman may not be used, The Justice League affiliation does not exist on any cards, each team must have at least 4 villians

Pauper is a format that I would be happy to play. I don't know how many others would share that philosophy, though. I also think that sealed is just fine.

Meatman, I would disagree a little bit with the first part of what you're saying. I think that there are lots more options than just that, and those options have become more and more diverse over the year that the game has been out, and will change further still as we get more content. And, I think that the more people who can be competitive at this game, the better it is for the game as a whole. You want to go to something thinking that you can win.

Really like the 2v2 player rules. I think they could be extrapolated to 3v3 player.

I also think we could build a blind communal bag game. Say put each DC character in, what you roll is the rarity. Draw and roll 1 character per turn, then put that card on your side of the field. You can now buy 1 die of that card. 20 card limit instead of 8.

Really like the 2v2 player rules. I think they could be extrapolated to 3v3 player.

I also think we could build a blind communal bag game. Say put each DC character in, what you roll is the rarity. Draw and roll 1 character per turn, then put that card on your side of the field. You can now buy 1 die of that card. 20 card limit instead of 8.

Does anyone else here play Hybrid? That is a great format! (Not just because I blog about it. *grin*)

Also there is another fun way I saw people play. It is a strange form of constructed but you have to bring two sideboard characters. Because your opponent has a total of 1 veto. You each show your team one at a time and any time in the showing your opponent can say "NO." you then cannot play that specific character. You can play other versions but not that character. It looks like a lot of fun, and I wanna try it.

We're trying DC-Only hybrid but with six packs instead of ten. It should strike a medium between the people who have tons of stuff and don't want to buy a lot of packs and the people who want to draft to build collections. And there's so much you can do with the four you're bringing.

Really like the 2v2 player rules. I think they could be extrapolated to 3v3 player.

I also think we could build a blind communal bag game. Say put each DC character in, what you roll is the rarity. Draw and roll 1 character per turn, then put that card on your side of the field. You can now buy 1 die of that card. 20 card limit instead of 8.

3 v 3 can be done by modifying the Magic version I remember playing years ago. I don't recall the name, but it could be called Empire. What happens is on a team of 3 one person is assigned to be King, who sits between the other 2 on the team, who are his Soldiers. The Soldiers can only attack the Soldier in front of them. Once he's defeats that Soldier he is able to go for the King. The King can't attack until one of his Soldier is defeated, but he can assist his Soldiers with using Action die and Energy dice on Globals. I know this is a vague description, but I think that's the gist of it. I'll have to still fine tune it.

Another thing I was experimenting with is the Straight team deck, which could be adapted into a game format. The basic idea is that you can only have one character assigned that number cost, so your team will have a cost range of either 1-8 or 2-9 or 3-10. I know there aren't any 8 or 9 cost characters yet, but the teams can still be any size. The only rules that must be enforced is characters can't have the same cost and the team must be a flush. No cost gaps.

Playing "comic book storylines" like Civil War, Trinity War or soon War of the Lanterns and with luck Maximum Carnage. I wanna try stuff with purchase cost restrictions as in "only cards with odd or even costs" Gonna have to try that single player mode and Galactus mode.

Playing "comic book storylines" like Civil War, Trinity War or soon War of the Lanterns and with luck Maximum Carnage. I wanna try stuff with purchase cost restrictions as in "only cards with odd or even costs" Gonna have to try that single player mode and Galactus mode.

I definitely second this. I think it brings in a really cool element. I've actually thought you could run an interesting campaign as a referee where, during each week, an event could occur (some global, advantage or disadvantage) and impact the play for just that week. So you may have your team built and the referee pops in an external event that causes all fist characters to be -2, -2 because some external force has messed with the oxygen levels. This would keep players off balance and force us to adapt some on the fly.

I definitely second this. I think it brings in a really cool element. I've actually thought you could run an interesting campaign as a referee where, during each week, an event could occur (some global, advantage or disadvantage) and impact the play for just that week. So you may have your team built and the referee pops in an external event that causes all fist characters to be -2, -2 because some external force has messed with the oxygen levels. This would keep players off balance and force us to adapt some on the fly.

OOOHHH now that sounds exciting, how about every round roll for a new random effect. From a bonus to a debuff to not being able to play shield characters, sounds like endless awesome to me.

OOOHHH now that sounds exciting, how about every round roll for a new random effect. From a bonus to a debuff to not being able to play shield characters, sounds like endless awesome to me.

look at Planechase cards in Magic.
(although, if I recall... this wasn't very popular, and they quit producing them... I had the cards myself, and never played it more than once)

A while back, on BGG, I asked if anyone had played Commander DM... seems like it would work... When your "Commander" leaves the field, he/she would always return to reserve on "?" level face... cumulative fielding costs.. (fielding cost increases +1 every time you field it.. keep track with counters on card) Although fielding cost would quickly approach a level that you would just not want to field it... so maybe some other method would need to be created...

Meatman, I would disagree a little bit with the first part of what you're saying. I think that there are lots more options than just that, and those options have become more and more diverse over the year that the game has been out, and will change further still as we get more content. And, I think that the more people who can be competitive at this game, the better it is for the game as a whole. You want to go to something thinking that you can win.

@Dave
Perhaps I worded my previous comment a bit too firmly. Don't get me wrong, I totally agree that Fully Unlimited Constructed will always be the best demonstration of what is the absolute best in all of Dice Masters, and will always be the quintessential way to play the game competitively.

I just find it interesting that a guy like myself...who has never played in any OP or Tourney ever, and who has only played casually with friends and family...I bet I could give you 8 character names now, and 4-6 of those will likely be on the winning team of the next big national tourney. Totally agreed that this may change overtime, but the "AVX + PXG" meta with a few supporting characters, seems to still run rampant, even with a total of 5 sets out there. I could be wrong...actually, I hope I am wrong...I would love to see a championship team with at least 4 core DC characters, and only supporting players from other sets...but from what I have seen so far, I'm not sure that will be the case.

This is why I was suggesting a possible alternate format that would put more emphasis on an individual's ability to "play the game", rather than "building a team"...or at least put some constraints on building a team so that they have to do so in a unfamiliar and unexpected way. This would really challenge people to be able to think through new combinations and playing styles, that may eventually bleed back into the unlimited meta. This could be done in the thematic ways I suggested above so it doesn't seem forced, and would add an extra element of fun to the experience.

Just food for thought...not trying to be combative, just friendly debate...thanks for the initial reply.

- KO'd characters return to their card.
- KO'd characters are removed from game!!!
- Resurrection global is a game global (card not needed), but you can use any energy.
- Same for Magic Missile global
- At the beginning of your turn, you take 1 damage( or opp. gains 1) for each die in your prep area!

Another crazy idea...
Team is divided into tiers.
tier 1 is 2(1-3 cost)
tier 2 is 3(4 cost)
tier 3 is 2(5+ cost)
8th card must be a non basic action.

All tiers are locked at beginning of game. Globals within unlocked tiers are unavailable.
To unlock tier 1, you must buy a basic action.
To unlock tier 2, you must buy a different basic action AND a tier 1 card.
To unlock tier 3, you must buy your non basic action AND a tier 2 card.

All tiers must be unlocked in order.
All tiers must be unlocked to win the game.